In October 2019 I gave notice at work and committed 100% to my freelance voice artist career. I’d been doing it part time for years, plugging every spare second that wasn’t already committed to married life, children and fitness binges. The grand plan was to start, like most fitness plans, after Christmas.
Move forward a few months and the World changed beyond recognition and I found myself not alone in isolation. Ironically, the hardships of those days that affected everyone, meant my early struggles in business went largely unnoticed. How much more challenging would it have been if things were normal and I had to explain why I was at home so much.
Wind forward, now this isn’t a problem. I’ve had some modest success and speak boldly about being a voice artist, specialising in a broad range of services. So I’d like to reflect on some of the challenges I faced in those early days. If it helps one ambitious creative take a step out onto the ice, that’s no bad thing.
The Myth of Freedom
Leaving a job you’re not enamoured with is going to feel euphoric for a while, but get over it. You’re going to need the work ethic of a Trojan and the self discipline of a ninja to get your business off the ground. Going into business with less than that mind-set is really the only way. By all means, make the most of the novelty of the new situation, but prioritise output.
Consider Multiple Income Streams
Freelance creatives need work in order to earn, holidays and even weekends are effectively cost centres in your life. The World doesn’t owe you a living and if one golden goose stops laying eggs then….well maybe it was foolish to put so much reliance on it.
However, I think it’s important in the early days, when you’re not well established to build some insurance into a plan, by having a few sources of income. These should all be related and mutually complimentary activities.
As a voice artist, I had a well resourced studio and a good level of production and mixing skill. I offered these services out and even did the odd bit of teaching. There’s a health warning here though. Know when its the right time to reign these other activities in, as you’ll need to focus exclusively on one key area eventually, usually once things start to build nicely.
I think its good to eventually have a deep speciality, a micro niche, like being ‘that guy’ that does Inuit throat singing better than anyone else. I want to increase my reputation as a specialist in documentary and long form narration, but its hard to master one skill when focussing on many.
Time is the new money
If you do spend your most precious resource (time), doing lots of different things, it can make progress feel painfully slow. If you must though, make sure to take the long view and set goals.
Before I quit the day job I felt that every minute was a lost opportunity. Just imagine how it would feel to focus all this wasted time on a project that felt personally fulfilling. That’s a reason to be inspired every day.
When you eventually start, you have to become the master of your own time. By this I mean acting with purpose, being deliberate in all actions and being highly selective about what you do next. Without the structure of an office environment, or a regular nine to five routine, it’s easy to drift. Days can start to feel very short; what Ben Elton calls the ‘Swing Top Bin’ phenomenon:
He needed a new bin, the old one was too small and stuff was always falling out. He went out and bought a beautiful new ‘swing top bin,’ much larger, very clean, with a wonderfully free swinging mechanism. After a week or two, he noticed rubbish starting to fall out of that one now and the beautiful swing wasn’t swinging any more. There were even bags appearing next to it like satellites around the mother ship.
It’s one of the strangest laws of nature; rubbish expands to fill the space provided and life has a way of making use of the resources available. If you don’t become the master of your own time, the demands on your life will expand to fill the time available.
Set Goals and Targets
Identifying what success looks like in 6 or 12 months is essential. Look at the end state and work out what needs to happen to achieve it. What are the tasks that need to be completed and what are the hurdles that need to be overcome?
What distills from this is a list of tasks to prioritise. Then it’s just a case of grouping them into monthly and weekly targets. I like to give myself a list to complete at the start of the week, considering each day what I’m going to focus on.
As a self employed, free-lancing entrepreneur, you wear so many hats each day that it’s impossible to stay on track without this kind of approach. However, the one thing that must, must, must happen is that you regularly review these goals and targets.
Have a plan, but all plans are flexible. It doesn’t matter if something isn’t completed by a certain date, maybe you’ve not considered all the constraints, but re-evaluate and prioritise again and again. I do a review of what I’ve achieved weekly and I’d suggest this is ring-fenced time that you never let slide.
Structure the Day
Structure is everywhere in a regular job, so much so you take it for granted and it can feel constricting. It’s there for a reason though and evolved that way because it gets stuff done.
Be either at work, or not at work is the simple rule I follow. You don’t have to be a slave to a time-table, but having a clear idea of what you’re going to do when you go into a work-space will deliver better results over time. A clear list of work priorities is essential, tied to the goals mentioned above.
Take the time to stop and consider what you are going to do each day, which is part of being deliberate in your actions. Don’t fall into the habit of merging non-work related priorities into your dedicated work time and resist the calls on your time to fix the tap! ( but you’re at home though ! ) Turn off social media when not focussed on marketing, so you don’t get distracted, and consider at the end of each day whether or not it was productive
Don’t Be A Hermit
Guess what, like it or not we are social creatures by nature. Every marketing book, article or post in any arts related field will say at some point: ’ it’s a people business’, or ’people like dealing with people’. On a purely professional level that’s all true of course and the best way to market yourself is to build professional relationships with others.
It’s not just about marketing though, on a purely personal level, staying happy and healthy requires interaction with others and a change of scenery from time to time. When starting out, I had my nose down for so long trying to build this thing, I forgot to stay in touch with too many people. You really do have to make the effort to keep getting out there, seeing friends, doing things, getting a change of routine. All work and no play ….
After lockdown, I heard many say it felt strange to go out. Friends confided they nearly pulled out of social events, not sure if they could be bothered.
I think they’d just become comfortable with a new normal, however, in a service industry it’s crucial to not let this happen. When I first went out after lockdown, I was gabbling in conversation, clearly not used to being around others.
Feedback
I’ve produced a tonne of work sometimes when left to my own devices and managed to get into a flow, but not all of it was quality. How long can you really be objective about your work that way? It’s essential to get feedback regularly from people who know what they’re talking about.
Try not to just seek the views of family and friends, as their kindness, whilst flattering in the moment, doesn’t necessarily serve your interests best. You don’t want to be labouring for months, making the same mistakes, then wondering why you’re not achieving.
In the early days I rated myself better than I was, based on what? I’m not sure. Was I too proud to acknowledge being a newbie? Perhaps I was scared of criticism, which I might not know how to remedy. Either way it’s not a very productive mind-set at best and pretty stupid at worst.
I wasn’t getting traction in the market and after having a long word with myself, I found my humility and asked for help. The coaching I received, the tweaks and general pointers I had and all the advice was helpful beyond belief, all for a bit of humility. With my attitude re-calibrated, none of it felt like criticism.
There are online forums and communities in all creative fields these days, where fellow professionals are happy to critique constructively. The idea is to participate both ways.
Maintaining the Early Energy
Now that you’re working from home, you’ve got all the hours under the sun to throw at your project! Yes you do, but I suggest that you don’t. Working every night into the wee small hours is very counter-productive.
Ask yourself why you got into doing this, were there not other benefits you saw when making this decision, work-life balance for instance? It’s commendable to have a tiger like work ethic, but keep everything else in focus.
When you start out at home, you get a lot done quickly and those long hours are fuelled by adrenaline. However it’s likely to be a long game, so don’t burn out.
My best work happens between nine in the morning and mid-day, having rested, eaten and hydrated fully. I try not to voice or edit narrations more than 2 1/2 hours per day, as its draining on the eyes, throat, brain and marriage.
Don’t make self imposed deadlines; jobs that come in where you’re so keen to impress with the speed of turn-around, you miss the kids’ sports day. If a client needs something in a hurry, things get discussed and everyone ends up happy.
In Conclusion
I liked Seamus Heaney’s epitaph which simply says, “walk on air against your better judgement”. Breaking out and building something that inspires you is a wonderful feeling. It’s scary, yes and it’s exhilarating. My key takeaway is to slow down and resist the urge to build Rome in a day.
I wrote these thoughts in the spirit of wanting to help others, it’s very subjective of course and reflects my own experiences when I started out, working at home as a free-lance voice artist.
If anything here chimes with you, or if you’d like to chat about anything voice-over related, please feel free to reach out and I’ll be glad to talk.
